The path to a successful work at home career begins within yourself. Do you have what it takes to be on your own with nobody to make sure you are getting work done and no certainty of income? If you think that will be tough to handle then I suggest you keep working at your main job and begin working at home part time until you know if it is for you or not.

One of the most popular ways to bring in an income from home online is by creating a blog or website and writing quality content on it while working to get it ranked highly in the search engines. You can also do freelance work. Or data entry jobs. There’s also affiliate marketing, business opportunities, paid surveys, network marketing, selling on eBay, creating your own information products, investing, site flipping, and many other ways to earn a living from home.

In any business venture, opportunity, or job you need to work harder than your competitors and colleagues to get ahead. The more clients you have and/or traffic you have the more money you make. It’s not easy and it does take time to earn a good income from home, but with plenty of dedication and patience you can do it!

I’ll start by telling you that 99% of the “work from home stuffing envelopes” ads and websites you see are illegal scams and should be avoided like the plague. However, there are a few real opportunities to make money addressing envelopes, not stuffing them. There are certain situations where a company wants their mail to be in a hand written envelope to make it look like a personal letter.

Some examples are:

- Banks sending credit cards to customers may want to disguise their mail as a hand written letter to reduce the risk of theft.

- Debt collection agencies sometimes use the “hand written” method to serve documents because people are more likely to open such a letter.

- Companies sending marketing material may do it for the same reason as the debt collection agencies; to increase the chances of it being opened.

These genuine opportunities do exist but they are very rare. Most of the time when you see an ad to work from home stuffing envelopes it is a scam.

Here is one example of how the envelope stuffing scam operates:

You are asked to send a small amount of money, usually $5 or $10, for the materials. You’ll then just receive a letter that tells you to place ads like the one you responded to, print copies of the letter that you just received, and stuff them in envelopes to send to the people who will send you their money just like you did. This is illegal in most places and unethical everywhere, so don’t fall for it!

How do you know if the ad you saw is legit?

There are some things you can do to find out whether the ad that you saw was a genuine opportunity to work at home addressing envelopes or just another envelope stuffing scam…

- If the ad asks you to send money, even if it sounds convincing in saying that they need your money to cover the costs of envelopes or other materials, it is probably a scam. Companies that genuinely want to employ people to address their envelopes will not ask for payment from you.

- If there is a number you can call for more information, call it and ask them some questions. Make sure you talk to a real person and get the name of the company so you can check them out with the Better Business Bureau. If there is not a number to call then you should be very suspicious.

If you find a genuine opportunity, that is great. Congratulations! If not, you will probably feel disappointed because you need to make some money. So, what else can you do?

Other things you can do to make money from home…

If you have a computer and internet connection there are plenty of ways to make money online that you can do without needing any special skills or qualifications.

One of the best things you can do is learn how to make money online with adsense because it can be done by almost anyone from almost anywhere, and it’s relatively simple to do once you learn the basics.

Another thing you can do to earn money working from home is complete free offers. How does this work? You sign up for free and complete simple surveys or free offers and get paid for it. Companies need your opinion as a consumer and instead of sending somebody to your door to ask you, they have you fill out a form online. To compensate you for your time they offer a payment for each survey or offer that you fill out. If you enjoy telling people what you think of their products this can be a great way to earn extra money from home.

There are also sites that you can join to be paid to read email. Usually the email will contain ads and you must click on a link and look at the ad for a certain time before qualifying for a payment. The payouts are very small and some companies have a reputation for being slow to pay, so try to find some feedback on the company before you sign up.

Hopefully now you know to do some investigation before you answer any ad claiming that you can work from home stuffing envelopes. If you want to be a work at home student you can’t be falling for scams!

You don’t have to be broke all the time and work at a crappy job just because you are a student. You can make money from home, and a LOT of it! Being a work at home student is ideal for many reasons and there are several benefits to working at home while you are a student. I’m sure you can come up with a bunch of them right now if you just sit back and think about it for a minute.

If you are a student who wants to learn how to make money from home then I encourage you to subscribe to my free training. You can quickly and easily do that on the home page. You should also bookmark this blog and check back periodically for free work at home information, resources, tips, opportunities, jobs, and more!